Xander Schauffele mysteriously withdraws from PGA Tour’s American Express

The PGA Tour will hit its third stop of the 2025 season this week at The American Express. Days before players tee off, the odds-on favorite, Xander Schauffele, has mysteriously withdrawn, PGA Tour Communications posted on X, formerly Twitter. He is being replaced in the field by Philip Knowles.

No reason has been given just yet as to why the World No.2 pulled from the tournament, per PGA Tour writer Paul Hodowanic.

The American Express is held at the Pete Dye Stadium Course in La Quinta, California. That is located a little less than a two-hour drive from the Los Angeles wildfires that are still ravaging Southern California.

Schauffele is a Southern California native, having grown up in San Diego. However, if any family issues pertaining to the wildfires were related, he very likely would have announced his withdrawal earlier. Even without Schauffele, the PGA Tour event is still stacked with talent in the field.

Justin Thomas is the new favorite to win the tournament. Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark, and Tony Finau are a few of the other stars on tour in the field.

The 31-year-old Schauffele is coming off the greatest season of his career. He finally got over the hump and captured his first major, winning the PGA Championship. But he was not done. Schauffele went on to win The Open in July as well.

Additionally, he made all 22 cuts, finished runner-up three times, and posted 15 top-10s and 20 top-25s. That is a level of consistency rarely achieved on the PGA Tour and during any other, would easily warrant a Player of the Year trophy.

Unfortunately for Xander Schauffele, his amazing performance happened the same year Scottie Scheffler looked like prime Tiger Woods.